Gender stereotyping and sex trafficking: comparative review of research on male and female sex tourism

Abstract

Within the growing body of scholarly research focused on sex trafficking, the existence of male victims is not often acknowledged. Current understanding of sex trafficking overlooks exploitation of male victims by restricting the phenomenon to a single exploiter–exploited gender pattern, that of males exploiting females. This comparative review aims to broaden this construction by focusing on the small but emerging phenomenon of female sex tourism in Caribbean countries that features a transposed exploiter–exploited gender pattern. Results of the review describe female sex tourists and male sex workers as well as the dynamics of their liaisons and compare these with the more typical and exploitive depictions used by scholarly researchers to describe male sex tourism. In addition, existing theoretical orientations used to understand sex work and sex trafficking, specifically applied to sex tourism, are examined. Lastly, recommendations are presented urging advancement of scholarly research toward understanding the evolving dynamics of sex tourism in regard to gender, race, and class.